Domains and Kingdoms

and required information about Plants, Fungi, and
Mutualisms

domain Bacteria

Kingdom names are not presently being used in this domain.

These are part of the large group of organisms commonly called
"bacteria." They include the blue-green algae
(= cyanobacteria), purple sulfur bacteria, etc., as well as most of the
more familiar decomposing and disease-causing bacteria.

Photoautotrophic species have chlorophyll, but not chloroplasts
(which are organelles that are separated form the surrounding cytoplasm
by their own membranes).

domain Archaea

Kingdom names are not presently being used in this domain.

These are also part of the large group of organisms commonly called
"bacteria." Most of the thermophilic
(hot-water-loving) and halophilic (brine-loving) organisms belong here,
as well as sulfur-oxidizers that are mutualists with animals (such as
Pogonophora)
near submarine hot water vents, and the anaerobic decomposers that
produce
methane from organic wastes such as sewage and landfills.
Includes chemoautotrophic, photoautotrophic, and
absorptive-heterotrophic
(decomposer) metabolic types; does not include pathogens or the
typical, aerobic decomposers of soils and underwater sediments.

General Characteristics

Prokaryotic like Bacteria, but biochemicals of cell walls,
proteins
associated
with DNA, and some metabolic pathways are different from Bacteria.

Genetically more similar to Eukarya than to Bacteria.

Tolerate harsher environments than most other prokaryotes and all
eukaryotes.

domain Eukarya

Unicellular protozoans (ciliates, amebas and flagellates), most kinds
of algae, and all plants, fungi and animals.
Includes the ten kingdoms covered by the sixth edition of the Campbell
and Reece textbook (Fig. 28.8), as well as many protozoans that are
not placed in kingdoms in your textbook, often commonly called amebas
and zooflagellates. Three of the eukaryotic kingdoms
- Parabasala, Diplomonadida, and Mycetozoa - in your textbook
will not be covered in ZO 150.

General Characteristics:

Nuclei surrounded by membranes.

Organized chromosomes that arrange on a mitotic spindle at
mitosis and
undergo meiosis for sexual reproduction.

Often have a standard, eukaryote flagellum of the "9 + 2"-fiber
design
in some life stage, and Golgi apparatus.

All those that we will cover in ZO 150 have the organelles called
mitochondria,
but several other, eukaryotic kingdoms lack them.

All the eukaryotes that are photoautotrophic have membrane-bound
organelles
called chloroplasts.

Eukaryotic organisms not
classified
into candidate kingdoms.

Amebas and many photoautotrophic and
heterotrophic flagellates are classified in kingdoms that we will not
cover
in ZO 150.
Recent estimates of the number of valid kingdoms range from 60 to
80.
Each is as genetically distinct from the others as any of the kingdoms
we will be covering (e.g.,
plants and animals) are from each other.

For ZO 150, you must simply know that many
amebas
and zooflagellates belong to other kingdoms. This includes the
sponge-like choanoflagellates, which are in an unnamed kingdom that is
equally related to Fungi and Animalia by the most recent genetic
studies.

kingdom Euglenozoa

Euglenas and other phyto- and zoo-flagellates, including the sleeping
sickness
pathogens called trypanosomes.

General Characteristics:

Unicellular and flagellated, and flagella not fringed.

May be parasitic (pathogenic) or free-living.

Nutrition may be ingestive or absorptive heterotrophic, or
mixotrophic
(both photosynthesis and ingestive heterotrophy).

Cell wall, when present, does not contain cellulose.

kingdom Alveolata

Ciliates, dinoflagellates and apicomplexans.

General Characteristics:

Flattened sacs called alveoli just beneath the cell membrane.

Unicellular ingestive heterotrophs or mixotrophs.

Cilia, flagella, or ameboid locomotion in some or all life stages.

Free-living or parasitic (including pathogens - such as the
apicomplexan Plasmodium
that causes malaria).

Includes all the ciliates, such as Paramecium.

Includes the environmental pests that cause "red tides" in the
ocean (such as Gymnodinium)
and fish kills in local estuaries (Pfiesteria).
Some of the dinoflagellates have cellulose cell walls.

Many look green because they harbor intracellular or
intercellular,
mutualistic
algae.

Often have an intercellular class of proteins called collagens.

Most animals (except sponges) have specialized muscle and nerve
cells.

Locomotion by ameboid movement, flagella, cilia, or muscles.

Many species have flagellated sperm.

Required Information About
Viridiplantae
and Fungi

Within the Viridiplantae,
know
relationships
and distinctions among:

green algae

mosses

ferns

seed plants:

gymnosperms

angiosperms

Know general
characteristics
of these fungal growth forms:

(which are neither taxonomic
nor
phylogenetic groups)

yeasts

molds

mushrooms

Examples of
Inter-Kingdom Mutualisms

Each of these cases is a cooperative association
of two distinct species from different kingdoms of life. Know the
kingdoms involved and how each member of the mutualism contributes to
the
growth, survival or reproduction of the other.

lichensFungi + green algae (Viridiplantae), or
blue-green
algae (Bacteria)
The fungus provides nutrient minerals, protection from drying, excess
sunlight, and grazers for the alga, while the green or blue-green alga
produces carbohydrates for the fungus by photosynthesis.

mycorrhizae (singular,
mycorrhiza)
multicellular, rooted Viridiplantae + Fungi
The mycorrhizal fungus decomposes and transports mineral nutrients
and water from soil into plant root cells much more efficiently than
the
plant root cell could do itself, while the fungus obtains carbohydrates
for energy from the plant's root cells.

rhizobia (singular,
rhizobium)
vascular Viridiplantae + nitrogen-fixing Bacteria
The rhizobial bacterium lives in plant root nodules and converts
nitrogen
gas (N2) from soil air into ammonia (NH3) as a
nutrient for the plant, while the bacterium
obtains carbohydrates for energy from the plant's root cells.

stony or reef-forming coralsAnimalia (anthozoan cnidarians) + dinoflagellates
(photosynthetic
Alveolata)
called "zooxanthellae."
The coral animal provides inorganic nutrients to the alga by capturing
and digesting prey and releasing carbon dioxide from tissue
respiration, while the alga produces carbohydrates for the animal
by photosynthesis.

termites and ruminant
artiodactyls:Animalia + flagellates (of several kingdoms), ciliates
(Alveolata), and bacteria (Bacteria)
Protozoan and bacterial symbionts live in the animal's gut and digest
cellulose and lignin for their host, while being maintained in a
protected,
moist environment and supplied constantly with fresh organic substrate
(food) by the animal. Many other kinds of herbivorous and
detritivorous
animals also have mutualistic bacteria to aid them in digesting
cellulose
and synthesizing vitamins and essential amino acids that they cannot
synthesize
for themselves. Anaerobic archaeans also live in these gut
communities and produce methane, but this chemical does not benefit the
other members.

vent wormsAnimalia (Pogonophora, and also a few bivalves and polychaetes)
+
Archaea (sulfide-oxidizers)
Prokaryotic symbionts live in a special organ of pogonophoran vent
worms called the trophosome, which completely replaces the digestive
tract
of these gutless wonders. The worm collects the dissolved
sulfides (reduced,
black sulfur compounds) that issue from submarine vents by using its
tentacles
with large surface areas and circulating blood containing
hemoglobin. The hemoglobin binds (just as it would to oxygen or
carbon monoxide) and partially detoxifies
the sulfides, then transports
them to the trophosome. The worm
provides a steady supply of inorganic chemical substrate to the
chemoautotrophic archaeans, which oxidize it to sulfate and use the
released
energy to synthesize biochemicals. Pogonophorans use biochemical
secretions and digested cells of archaeans as energy, and may also
obtain energy
by absorbing soluble biochemicals directly from the mud around them
(absorptive heterotrophy).

pollination mutualisms
flowering Viridiplantae and insects, birds and bats (Animalia)
Many flowering plants provide nectar and excess pollen to animals as
food, in exchange for the animals' transfer of the otherwise immobile
pollen to the stamens of
other plants or blossoms for sexual reproduction. The animals
tend to specialize in one particular
species of flower, which greatly increases the likelihood that the
pollen
they carry will reach another plant or flower of the same species,
where
it can fertilize the ovule. Some pollination mutualisms are
obligatory, while
others are more flexible.

seed dispersal mutualisms
seed-bearing Viridiplantae and insects, birds or mammals (Animalia)
Gymnosperms and angiosperms (collectively called spermatophytes)
provide
excess seeds or nutritious fruit as food for the animals, while the
animals
may bury some seeds they never recover, or pass undigested seeds
through
their guts and defecate them in new locations where the plant is likely
to be able to germinate and survive, along with a little fertilizer.